Things that go bump in the night
by fanficfanatic376
Summary: Satan's not the only demon that gets around, that's for sure. Though any demon children are very rare, the one's that do exist seem to be hated the second they're born, usually stuck out in the streets and left to die, or smothered by their human parents. Though what happens when they start banding together, and want their own voices to be heard? Trouble that's what. And bloodshed.
1. The alley four years ago

**Things that go bump in the night**

_Prologue_

"So, I thought it would be a little harder than this to find you, you know that right?"

There was one thing Rika thought she wouldn't hear when she woke up, and that would be the sound of some strange woman's voice who was out in the rain, that apparently had been looking for. Great, what did she do now other than fall asleep in an alleyway? It wasn't like anyone would pay attention to a pre-teen sitting there by herself anyways. The world was just that heartless.

"Hey, you going to respond or am I just going to go ahead and drag you off to where you should be anyways?" The stranger asked, cold brown eyes looking over Rika's shivering form. "For the love of God kid, you could have at least thought of lighting a fire even if it caught a cop's attention."

"Why do you care?" She asked, studying the woman in front of her. The woman was very much above average in height as well as curves, her chest seeming to strain against the black leather trench coat that came down to her knees, almost like a dress. Her black hair seemed a little oily, but was much better combed than Rika's. She held a dark brown umbrella over the two of them, long fingers covered by the white gloves on her hands. Her face though… Her face was that of someone who'd gone through hell and back, with… Were those tiny patches of scales on her face? No, that had to be Rika's imagination.

"Because guess what, when it smells like a _cat's_ been soaked and gone through the mud, I have to assume it's the person I'm looking for."

"And who says that smell has been coming from me."

"Good question. How long has it been since you've had a bath?"

"Touche…"

"Now, mind telling me your name? Or should I just go on ahead and get rid of being mysterious."  
"Rika. Now how are you, and why the hell is your face covered in scales?"

That earned a small chuckle from the woman before her face went stone cold again, before glancing Rika over.

"The name's Torikkusutā, or Tori. And well, I'll explain a bit more if you take off the hood."

Rika looked the woman over again, and took a deep breath through her nose. A more… Reptilian scent hit her nostrils instead of just the smell of sweet pavement and whatever was in the dumpster next to her. She took another look at the gloves, and saw that Tori's claw like nails were trying to poke through the cloth, causing her to raise a slender eyebrow at the woman.

"Take off the gloves and I'll take off the hood. Just seems like a fair deal doesn't it? Since it's obvious we're both trying to cover up something." She said suspiciously, the reptile smell seeming a bit more noticeable now.

"True. Well, might as well be a bit more truthful then." Tori said before removing the glove that belonged to her empty hand, looking in disgust at the scaled flesh underneath. No, there was no sign of regular skin, just scales that looked like the rest of Tori's tanned skin. "Now, your hood."

Rika sighed, and made sure nobody was walking down the street. Satisfied with how deserted the area seemed, she pulled down her hood, revealing her messy fiery orange hair and the very bane of the pre-teen's existence. The cat ears that earned her a lifetime of shame, the ears that she'd been told were because of her father, not her mother.

"Well then Rika, do you mind coming with me? My car's waiting for me down at the end of the street, with a hot meal made for myself and possibly a starving cat girl."

"Fair enough." She said as she stood up, putting her hood back on and making sure to stay at arm's length away from Tori. "It'd beat freezing to death out here. And I don't turn down free food."


	2. Can't stay put

_Chapter one_

"Riiiikkkkaaaaa!"

That whining voice…

"Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiikkkkkkkkkkkkaaaaaaa!"

Of all people to come into her room, why?

"RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKAAAAAAA!"

"WHAT?!"

If there was a golden rule in there house, it had to be 'don't bother Rika while she's sunbathing'. Why? Because that was the only time the teen got any peace around here, since apparently she was the second oldest and the 'mama' of the house. Really, of all things Tori had to do over the years, she had to go around and start collecting other people like them, and not just people, _kids. _Rika hated children, but they all seemed to love her. Seriously, why did the fact that Tori told every single one that came in about her ears and her tail? That was not an invitation to come and pester her, it really wasn't.

And the worst one to commit this crime just happened to have barged into her room after yelling for the past hour, startling Rika awake while she'd been dozing off in the sunlight, and then flopped down onto her stomach. That someone being Lee, the newest little member of the dysfunctional adoptive family, as well as the youngest currently there.

Rika glared at him with half-lidded violet eyes, ears going flat and a small growl coming from her throat, earning a giggle from the little boy on top of her. His shaggy brown hair was in his face again, and the lard ball was as heavy as ever, a grin on his chubby face.

"Tori said she wants to talk to you!"

"I can hear you without you yelling my ears off alright. Now get off before I shove you off. I was in the middle of a good dream."

"What kind of dream?"

"A dream where I wasn't pestered by little boys. Now let me up!" She growled at him before the giggling boy got off of her. Rika sat up and stretched, tail swishing slightly in annoyance, and glared at Lee before he could grab one of the signs that she was partially demonic. The key word being partially, and no she was not proud of it. That had not been a nice shock that day when Tori had gotten her inside the limo and told her about her father's nature. Really, all that did was add more salt to the wound. _Hey! Your dad's not dead, he's a cat demon that possessed some random dude your mom slept with, and then you were born! How does that sound?!_

Standing up and walking to her bathroom, Rika took a good look at herself in the mirror before sighing. Her hair had grown from the shoulder length mess it use to be, now being clean, combed, and at her shoulder blades. But it was still that obnoxious orange color, and even hair dye didn't help, then again she couldn't use it in the house anymore anyways. Another kid was allergic to something in the stuff and couldn't be around anyone who used it, bad enough to where she would've died from it.

The movement of her tail quickly caught her eye, causing her to glare at the appendage. Really, she didn't know how it was meant to represent a cat's tail. Granted, it did look similar to one, but it was split into two different tails at the top part, then the two merged into one. Really, if it was a regular tail it would've just been weird, the one that she did have was down right strange.

After deciding she would pass the looks inspection with Tori, Rika chased Lee out of her room while going downstairs to the only adult supervision this place had. With a loud knock, she attempted to get Tori to open the door to her office, where the snake woman (as she had been corrected a long time ago that she was not a lizard) spent most of her time. The door was whipped open, causing Rika to come face to face with the tall woman.

"About time. I knew that cats loved preening themselves, but this is just ridiculous."

"I don't preen, and you know that. Now, what is it."

"Inside, now." Tori ordered, pulling the orange haired teen in by her left ear before shutting the door. "Look, we've got ourselves a major problem, and I do mean major."

"Okay, it must be bad since you're showing some emotion." That was definitely true. For the four years that Rika had known the woman, she never once had a different expression unless something was really troubling her. And right now, she looked very, _very _paranoid right now.

"Yes, and I have no idea what's attracted their attention, but we've got a couple of Exorcists around here, and one of the just so happened to bring a weapon with him."

"And how do you know this?"

"I saw them while I was out walking, and…" Tori stuck out her forked tongue for a second before putting it back in her mouth. "The tongue never lies."

"Good God, can you stop it with the tongue thing? Of all the weird things you could've gotten from your mom, it just had to be you smelling things with it."

"You're getting off topic Rika."

"Yeah yeah. And why are you telling me this anyways? If they haven't started banging down our doors, then we really don't need to be worrying about them."

"Alright, let's say you and Lee go outside for a walk…"

"Why does it have to be me and Butterball?"

"Hush. Well, let's say the wind blows off your hood or your hat that you're using to cover your ears, and one of those exorcists sees and goes on full on attack mode. Not only did you put yourself and Lee in danger, but also everyone else in this house."

"Okay, point taken. So what do you want me to do? I don't feel like playing decoy while you get rid of them."

"Make sure that no one leaves this mansion."

"What?!" Rika said in absolute shock, her jaw dropping and her ears drooping. "So you're telling me that until those guys go away, I'm going to be stuck in here with the little terrors?! Nuh-uh, no way. Hell to the no."

"I'm not giving you a choice in the matter Rika. This is for everyone's safety here, so no more night time walks, no more shopping sprees, and no pet store for you."

"Why the pet store thing?"

"A certain someone found your catnip stash."

"Damn it Luna… I thought she wouldn't tell you."

If anyone knew Rika well, there was something that she would never listen to if someone decided to ban her doing it, and that was going on her night time walks. If she couldn't get peace during the daytime hours, then she could when the little rascals were sleeping. In other words, if Tori said no walks, Rika said go on all the walks no matter what Miss. Moody said.

So now, here Rika was, waiting for there to be nothing but silence in the house. She knew the nightly routine by heart, after living here for the past few years. Tori would make sure put all six of the smaller half-breeds in bed, then come pay Rika a nighttime visit before heading off to bed herself, which often took an hour to do all of this. That was how long Rika would have to wait before getting her time of peace and quiet, plus some exercise.

The sound of the door opening jolted Rika out of her thoughts, her tail puffing up a bit in surprise. She turned around and let the fur on her tail lie flat.

"You don't need to check on me every night you know. I'm not a little kid."

"When you know the saying 'curiosity killed the cat' can be true for certain demons and half-demons, you learn to make sure that certain people are still safe. And what are you doing?"

"Imagining a world where I can have some peace and where I'm not getting pestered. Good night, and out please?"

"Ah, the mixture of rudeness and politeness. As if that never gets old." Tori said sarcastically before leaving and closing the door, her white night gown fluttering behind her. Rika stood by the door and listened for her retreating footsteps, and stopped herself from letting out a satisfied purr when she couldn't hear the woman anymore.

With a smirk, she walked over to the window and opened it, skillfully climbing onto the old flower pot and closing it before jumping to the ground and landing in the bushes…

And on top of somebody who happened to be hiding in them.


End file.
